Method and apparatus for mapping an ip address to an msisdn number within a wireless application processing network

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, there is disclosed a system and method for providing access to an IP number or a subscriber identity number associated with a mobile device in a network, the method comprising associating a mobile device with a subscriber identity number; generating a temporary IP number for the mobile device; linking the subscriber identity number with the temporary IP number; storing the subscriber identity number and the temporary IP number in a database; and providing a pull application program interface to extract from the database either the subscriber identity number or the IP address for mobile device when requested by an application program.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/596,802, filed Jun. 19, 2000 which claims priority from U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/188,437, filed Mar. 10, 2000, thedisclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to wireless application protocol (WAP)systems, and more particularly, to the mapping of temporary IP addressesto established MSISDN numbers.

2. Description of Related Art

Wireless application protocol (WAP) is positioned at the conversions oftwo rapidly evolving network technologies, wireless data and theInternet. Both the wireless data market and the Internet are growingvery quickly and are continuously reaching new customers. The explosivegrowth of the Internet has fueled the creation of new and excitinginformation services. Most of the technology developed for the Internethas been designed for desktop and larger computers and medium to highbandwidth networks.

Hand held wireless devices present a more constrained computingenvironment compared to desktop computers. They have less powerful CPU'sand memory than desktop systems. Similarly, wireless data networkspresent a more constrained communications environment compared to wirednetworks. Wireless networks have fundamental limitations with respect topower, available spectrum and mobility. The WAP specification has beendeveloped to address mobile network characteristics by adapting existingnetwork technologies for the Internet to the specialized requirements ofhand-held wireless data devices.

Access to a wireless application protocol system utilizing WAPtechnologies is provided via a WAP gateway node. The WAP gateway node isnormally located within an Internet service provider (ISP) providingaccess to the Internet for mobile terminals. However, the WAP gatewaynode may alternatively be provided by a mobile services operator. Inorder to obtain access to the WAP gateway node, a user must beauthenticated. There are two possible authentication points for a user.The first authentication point is during setup of a data call. Thisauthentication is handled by the integrated access system (IAS) locatedwithin a mobile switching center utilized by the mobile terminal and/ora remote authentication dial-in user service (RADIUS) authenticationserver located in the WAP network.

The user may also be authenticated when accessing particular serverswithin the WAP network. This manner of authentication may be handled intwo different ways. Proxy authentication may be used wherein the WAPgateway returns a status code of “407” to a WAP browser. This initiatesthe same type of basic authentication as occurs for a hypertexttransport protocol (HTTP) message. A user ID and password are entered bythe user in response to this status code and this data is includedwithin every IP packet from the browser.

A WAP gateway supports several different types of bearer messages, forexample, IP, SMS, USSD, etc. A MSISDN is used within the WAP gateway todetermine if a user is allowed to use the WAP gateway node, to chargefor using the WAP gateway node, and to enable charges for specificcontent to be transmitted. If SMS or USSD bearer protocols are used, theMSISDN is always included within the data packet and this poses noidentification problems for the WAP gateway. However, when using the IPprotocol, the integrated access system within the mobile switchingcenter allocates a temporary IP address to the mobile terminal. This IPaddress is included within messages transmitted to the WAP gateway. TheWAP gateway has no way at present to determine the MSISDN numberassociated with a particular IP address. Thus, some manner for enablingthe WAP gateway to associate the temporary IP addresses with a fixedMSISDN number is desired.

SUMMARY

The present invention overcomes the foregoing and other problems with asystem and method for associating an MSISDN number of a mobile terminalwith a temporarily assigned IP address for use with authentication,billing and personalization processes in a network. In response to awireless network access request by a mobile terminal, a first serverlocated within the wireless network, generates a start packet. The startpacket contains an MSISDN of the mobile terminal and an IP addressassigned to the mobile terminal by the first server. The start packet istransmitted to a second server within a wireless application protocolnetwork wherein a second server extracts the MSISDN and the assigned IPaddress from the start packet and stores the MSISDN and the assigned IPaddress within a database. The database enables storage of the MSISDNand the IP address together such that the database may be accessed usingan interface to determine an MSISDN associated with the IP address.

The first server may also generate stop packets responsive todisconnection of the mobile terminal from the wireless network. The stoppacket also contains the MSISDN and assigned IP address of the mobileterminal and, responsive to receipt of the stop packet, the secondserver determines the MSISDN and IP address from the stop packet anddeletes these entries from the database.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the method and apparatus of the presentinvention may be obtained by reference to the following DetailedDescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a WAP network;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a WAP network incorporating the IP toMSISDN mapping technique of the present invention:

FIG. 3 is a signaling diagram illustrating a request of a particular WAPapplication by a mobile terminal; and

FIG. 4 is a signaling diagram illustrating the termination of a PPPconnection between a mobile terminal and the WAP gateway.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawings, and more particular to FIG. 1, there isillustrated a WAP network 10. A micro browser 15 within a wirelessterminal 20 enables the user to access world wide web servers 25 on theInternet via a WAP gateway server 30. The WAP gateway 30 comprises aprotocol gateway which translates requests from a WAP protocol (WSP,WTP, WTLS and WDP) to a WWW protocol (HTTP and TCP/IP). This isaccomplished via content encoders and decoders 35 within the WAP gatewayserver 30.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a block diagram of asystem which utilizes radius accounting messages as a manner for mappingIP addresses to an MSISDN number. While the following description ofmapping an IP address to an MSISDN number is done with respect to anauthentication process, the system and method may also be used with abilling process, personalization process, etc. The system includes amobile terminal 45 which may comprise a mobile telephone, portablecomputer, personal data assistant or any other mobile electronic devicecapable of communicating with a MSC/VLR 50 via a wireless radio network55. It should be well understood by one skilled in the art that thewireless radio network for communicating between the mobile terminal 45and MSC/VLR 50 would consist of a base transceiver station, base stationand other components necessary within a wireless radio network.

While the described embodiment uses RADIUS Accounting messages to carryout the described invention, other systems performing similar functionsmay be used. When a client is configured to use RADIUS Accounting, atthe start of service delivery the client will generate an AccountingStart packet describing the type of service being delivered and the userto whom the service is being delivered. The Accounting start packet issent to the RADIUS Accounting server, which will send back anacknowledgment that the packet has been received. At the end of servicedelivery the client will generate an Accounting Stop packet describingthe type of service that was delivered and optionally statistics such aselapsed time, input and output octets, or input and output packets. Theclient will send that to the RADIUS Accounting server, which will sendback an acknowledgment that the packet has been received. By the presentinvention, RADIUS is used for transmitting IP-address and MSISDN atsession start. Other types of information can also be transmitted, e.g.,by using RADIUS Accounting for billing or personalization procedures.Other systems capable of transmitting the IP address and MSISDNinformation between the networks might also be used in place of a RADIUSsystem.

The MSC/VLR 50 includes a remote authentication dial-in user service(RADIUS) server 60 configured to transmit a RADIUS accounting messagefrom the MSC/VLR 50 to the WAP gateway 70. The RADIUS accountingmessages are transported to the WAP gateway 70 through routers 65interconnecting the MSC/VLR 50 and the WAP gateway 70. A RADIUSaccounting server 75 is located within the WAP gateway 70. The RADIUSaccounting server 75 is responsive to the received RADIUS accountingmessages from the MSC/VLR 50 and upon receipt of these messages updatesa mapping session database 80 within the WAP gateway 70. The mappingsession database 80 includes a plurality of storage locations for anassigned temporary IP address and an associated MSISDN of the mobileterminal 45.

The RADIUS accounting messages comprise packets of data which describethe type of service being delivered, and the user to which the serviceis to be delivered. Information in the packet includes among otherthings, the MSISDN number, number of frames, and the IP address of themobile terminal 45. The information within a packet relating to IPaddress and MSISDN number is used to update the database 80 within theWAP gateway 70. RADIUS accounting messages indicating the stoppage of aconnection between a mobile terminal 45 and the WAP gateway 70 cause thedatabase 80 to be updated such that the MSISDN and IP address for themobile terminal are no longer stored and associated together in thedatabase.

Once a mobile terminal 45 has been properly authenticated by the WAPgateway 70 and the IP address and the IP address and MSISDN of themobile terminal stored in the database 80, the mobile terminal mayaccess applications 85 within the WAP network. The RADIUS authenticationserver, in collaboration with a translation application program (API)interface 88, provides a conduit for the database 80, enablingapplications to access and determine a MSISDN associated with an IPaddress for the mobile terminal 45.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is provided a first example of asignaling diagram utilizing the method for mapping a MSISDN number to atemporarily assigned IP address for a mobile terminal 45 accessing a WAPgateway 70. The process illustrated in FIG. 3 describes when a mobileterminal 45 requests use of a WAP application 85 residing upon a webserver on the Internet. The mobile terminal 45 transmits a message 100to the access server 60 in order to establish a connection to the accessserver using the point-to-point protocol (PPP). Before establishing aconnection with the mobile terminal 45, the access server 60 performs anauthentication process wherein the mobile terminal 45 transmitsauthentication information including the PPP User ID of the mobileterminal and a password to the access server 60 using a passwordauthentication procedure (PAP).

The access server 60, residing within the mobile switching center 50(FIG. 2) generates an access request message 105 for transmission to theRADIUS Authentication server 78 located within the WAP gateway 70. Theaccess request message 105 includes the PPP User ID and passwordtransmitted to the access server 60 by the mobile terminal 45. Theaccess request message comprises a request from the access server 60 tothe RADIUS server 75 requesting user access to a particular site. TheRADIUS server 75 replies to the access server 60 with an access acceptmessage 110 to indicate that access has been granted to the mobileterminal 45.

Next, a PPP connection is established between the access server 60 andthe mobile terminal 45. IP packets are transmitted over the connection.The only information included about the sender within the IP packetstransmitted over the PPP connection is the IP address of the sourcemobile terminal 45. The IP address cannot alone be used as a user IDsince the IP address is dynamically allocated to the mobile terminal 45by the access server 60 or the RADIUS server 75 during the PPPconnection setup.

To overcome this problem, the IP address and the MSISDN of the mobileterminal 45 are transmitted over the PPP connection from the accessserver 60 to the WAP gateway 70 as an accounting request message 115 toenable mapping between these identifiers. The IP address and the MSISDNare stored as a record 118 within the mapping session database 80 withinthe WAP gateway 70. The WAP gateway 70 replies to the accounting requestmessage 115 by means of a mandatory accounting response message 120 tothe access server 60 using the RADIUS protocol. Once this connection isestablished, the user may generate a request 130 for access to aparticular WAP application 85 (“service”) on a web server. This requestis forwarded from the mobile terminal 45 to the WAP gateway 70. The WAPgateway 70 forwards the mobile terminal request 138 to the requestedapplication 85. The WAP gateway 70 may determine the IP address of themobile terminal 45 by examining the IP packet header to determine the IPaddress of the mobile terminal. The MSISDN of the mobile terminal 45 isdetermined by examining the mapping session database 80 and theassociated IP address via the application program interface 88. Thedetermined MSISDN is placed in an HTTP header of packets used to contactthe WAP application 85.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is illustrated a signaling diagramwherein a mobile terminal 45 with an established PPP connection to theaccess server 60 terminates the PPP connection. Initially, the mobilestation 45 terminates at 135 the PPP connection with the access server60. In response to the termination of the PPP connection, the accessserver 60 transmits an accounting request stop message 140 to the WAPgateway 70. This request includes the MSISDN and IP address of themobile terminal 45. In response to the accounting request stop message140, the WAP gateway 70 removes the entry within the mapping sessiondatabase 80 associated with the MSISDN number and IP address. The WAPgateway 70 responds to the accounting request stop message by means ofan accounting response message 145 acknowledging cancellation of the PPPconnection.

The previous description is of a preferred embodiment for implementingthe invention, and the scope of the invention should not necessarily belimited by this description. The scope of the present invention isinstead defined by the following claims.

1-26. (canceled)
 27. A server in a data network for providing asubscriber identity number of a mobile device to an applicationcommunicating with the data network, the server comprising: means forreceiving from a network gateway node, the subscriber identity number ofthe mobile device and a temporary IP address assigned to the mobiledevice; means for storing the subscriber identity number and thetemporary IP address in a database; means for receiving from the mobileterminal, a request directed to the application, the request includingthe temporary IP address assigned to the mobile device; means fordetermining the subscriber identity number of the mobile device byaccessing the database through a pull application programming interface;and means for placing the determined subscriber identity number into apacket header and transmitting the packet header to the application witha data packet.
 28. The server as recited in claim 27, wherein the meansfor receiving the subscriber identity number and the temporary IPaddress from the network gateway node includes means for receiving anaccounting start packet containing the subscriber identity number of themobile device and the temporary IP address assigned to the mobiledevice.
 29. The server as recited in claim 28, further comprising: meansfor receiving an accounting stop packet when the mobile device ends thesession, the accounting stop packet including the subscriber identitynumber and the temporary IP address assigned to the mobile device; andmeans for deleting the stored subscriber identity number and thetemporary IP address from the database responsive to the accounting stoppacket.
 30. The server of claim 28, further comprising means fortransmitting an acknowledgment packet to the network gateway node inresponse to receiving the accounting start packet.
 31. The server ofclaim 27, wherein the server is used in at least one of anauthentication process, a billing process, and a personalizationprocess.
 32. The server of claim 27, wherein the subscriber identitynumber is an MSISDN number of the mobile device.
 33. The server of claim27, wherein the network is a WAP network.
 34. The server of claim 27,wherein the server is a RADIUS server.
 35. A method in a server in adata network for providing a subscriber identity number of a mobiledevice to an application communicating with the data network, the methodcomprising the steps of: receiving from a network gateway node, thesubscriber identity number of the mobile device and a temporary IPaddress assigned to the mobile device; storing the subscriber identitynumber and the temporary IP address in a database; receiving from themobile terminal, a request directed to the application, the requestincluding the temporary IP address assigned to the mobile device;determining the subscriber identity number of the mobile device byaccessing the database through a pull application programming interface;and placing the determined subscriber identity number into a packetheader and transmitting the packet header to the application with a datapacket.
 36. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein the step ofreceiving the subscriber identity number and the temporary IP addressfrom the network gateway node includes receiving an accounting startpacket containing the subscriber identity number of the mobile deviceand the temporary IP address assigned to the mobile device.
 37. Themethod as recited in claim 36, further comprising: means for receivingan accounting stop packet when the mobile device ends the session, theaccounting stop packet including the subscriber identity number and thetemporary IP address assigned to the mobile device; and means fordeleting the stored subscriber identity number and the temporary IPaddress from the database responsive to the accounting stop packet. 38.The method of claim 36, further comprising transmitting anacknowledgment packet to the network gateway node in response toreceiving the accounting start packet.
 39. The method of claim 35,wherein the method is used in at least one of an authentication process,a billing process, and a personalization process.
 40. A server in a datanetwork for providing a subscriber identity number of a mobile device toan application communicating with the data network, the servercomprising: means for receiving from the mobile terminal, a requestdirected to the application, the request including the temporary IPaddress assigned to the mobile device; means for determining thesubscriber identity number of the mobile device by accessing a databasethrough a pull application programming interface; and means for placingthe determined subscriber identity number into a packet header andtransmitting the packet header to the application with a data packet.41. A method in a data network for providing a subscriber identitynumber of a mobile device to an application communicating with the datanetwork, the method comprising the steps of: performing the followingsteps in a network node in communication with the mobile terminal:generating a start packet in response to an access request from themobile terminal, the start packet containing a subscriber identificationnumber associated with the mobile terminal and an IP address assigned tothe mobile terminal; and sending the start packet to a database, saiddatabase receiving and storing the subscriber identification number andIP address contained in the start packet; and performing the followingsteps in a server in communication with the database and a plurality ofapplications: receiving from the mobile terminal, a request directed toone of the applications, the request including the IP address assignedto the mobile device; utilizing a pull application programming interface(API) to access the database and extract a subscriber identificationnumber associated with the IP address assigned to the mobile terminal;placing the extracted subscriber identification number into a header;and transmitting the header in a data packet to the application to whichthe mobile terminal directed the request.
 42. A system for associating asubscriber identification number of a mobile terminal with a temporarilyassigned IP address, comprising: a network node for generating a startpacket responsive to an access request from a mobile terminal, the startpacket containing a subscriber identification number associated with themobile terminal and an IP address assigned to the mobile terminal; adatabase in communication with the network node, said database receivingthe start packet from the network node and storing the subscriberidentification number and IP address contained in the start packet; anda server in communication with the database and a plurality ofapplications, said server including: means for utilizing a pullapplication programming interface (API) to access the database andextract a subscriber identification number associated with an IP addressreceived in a request from the mobile terminal directed to one of theapplications; means for placing the extracted subscriber identificationnumber into a header; and means for transmitting the header in a datapacket to the application to which the mobile terminal directed therequest.
 43. A method for providing access to a subscriber identitynumber associated with a mobile device in a data network, the methodcomprising: associating a mobile device with a subscriber identitynumber; generating by a network gateway node, a temporary IP address forthe mobile device when the mobile device initiates a session;transmitting by the network gateway node, an accounting a start packetto a server, the accounting start packet including the subscriberidentity number and the temporary IP address of the mobile device;wherein the server performs the steps of: storing the subscriberidentity number and the temporary IP address in a database; receivingfrom the mobile device, a request directed to an applicationcommunicating with the data network, said request including thetemporary IP address of the mobile device; determining the subscriberidentity number of the mobile device by accessing the database through apull application programming interface; placing the determinedsubscriber identity number into a packet header; transmitting the packetheader to the application with a data packet; receiving an accountingstop packet when the mobile device ends the session, the accounting stoppacket including the subscriber identity number and the temporary IPaddress of the mobile device; and deleting the stored subscriberidentity number and the temporary IP address from the databaseresponsive to the accounting stop packet.
 44. A system for providingaccess to a subscriber identity number associated with a mobile devicein a data network, the system comprising: a network gateway node for:associating the mobile device with a subscriber identity number;generating a temporary IP address for the mobile device when the mobiledevice initiates a session; and transmitting an accounting start packetto a server, the accounting start packet including the subscriberidentity number and the temporary IP address of the mobile device; and aserver in communication with the network gateway node for: storing thesubscriber identity number and the temporary IP address in a database;receiving from the mobile device, a request directed to an applicationcommunicating with the data network. said request including thetemporary IP address of the mobile device; determining the subscriberidentity number of the mobile device by accessing the database through apull application programming interface; placing the determinedsubscriber identity number into a packet header; transmitting the packetheader to the application with a data packet; receiving an accountingstop packet when the mobile device ends the session, the accounting stoppacket including the subscriber identity number and the temporary IPaddress of the mobile device; and deleting the stored subscriberidentity number and the temporary IP address from the databaseresponsive to the accounting stop packet.